White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says people have to respect Arizona’s controversial new immigration law, that he understands the reasons behind it and players should still go to next year’s All-Star Game in Arizona. But he hates what he feels is a dangerous law, enough so that he’ll boycott the Midsummer Classic.
“Every law you have to respect. They have their reasons. The only thing I’m concerned with is … they don’t go to the gang members, don’t go to the streets; they go straight to people’s work,” said Guillen, a Venezuelan who lives in Arizona during spring training. “Any country, no matter what country you’re in, doesn’t want illegal aliens.”
But Guillen — who managed his White Sox against the Yankees today — praised most of the undocumented workers, saying they largely came here to do just that, not to cause trouble. And with homes in Arizona and Miami, and people close to him facing the same immigration woes, it’s a topic that touches him enough to keep him from next year’s All-Star game.
“I’m not going. I have to support my people, people I believe in. If those people were bad people, hell no I wouldn’t support them; but they’re good people,” Guillen said. “I’m very proud to be a [U.S.] citizen, but meanwhile I ask, “Wow, why did this happen?’ We didn’t do anything wrong here. We support this county and this country supports us. That’s why I’m confused about this thing.
“As a coach, no [I won’t go]. As a player it’s a different thing. If the commissioner wants to play the All-Star game in Arizona, we have to show up. As a coach, I’m not going. They don’t need me. The show’s going on without me.”
There is a growing sentiment that the All-Star Game should be moved, and there is a precedent for it.
When Arizona refused to honor Martin Luther King Day, the NFL voted to move the 1993 Super Bowl from Arizona to the Rose Bowl. That apparently was a language Arizona voters understood, because faced with losing millions of dollars, they finally recognized the holiday and got Super Bowl XXX in Tempe.
For perspective, the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce and Growth Association estimated that last year’s All-Star Game would be worth $60 million to the city.
Mind you, Guillen says if the game stays scheduled in Arizona, the fans there deserve to see the All-Stars; but he adds the area’s undocumented workers deserve better than to be dragged out of their jobs, and the minority citizens deserve better than to be arrested simply because of brown skin.
“I live on two borders, I live on the Miami border and the Arizona border in spring training; the news is sad. They asked me the best thing I ever did. I said be an American citizen. [But] there’s a lot of people [who] lost their life to come here. When you risk your life or your families lives, it’s for a reason: To make a better living and come to work.
“The law or what they think, that’s their problem: [But] the people you’re looking for are not the people who’re here illegally,” Guillen went on. “I don’t see anybody leave their country and come to the United States just to come to New York to see the Statue of Liberty. No, they come here, get up at 4 a.m., work their tail off and be abused, underpaid, sometimes like 30 people in a little house. There are people dying because they want to come to America.
“When you’re illegal in this country, the last thing you want to do is get in trouble, because you’ll be deported and back where you don’t want to be. And I say this because I have people in that situation; you don’t want to drive fast, you don’t want to get a parking ticket, they abuse you about making less money because they don’t have the papers, you overwork because you have to.”
Of course, the law doesn’t just affect undocumented workers. Any citizen of swarthy complexion — someone of Mexican descent born in Phoenix or a naturalized Guatemalan — can get picked up for not having their papers.
“That’s the law, sure. I think that’s wrong. I don’t think any human being carries their birth certificate and passport with you,” Guillen said. “That’s very wrong. I don’t carry my passport with me anywhere unless I go to another country. And I think that’s wrong. They have to be careful about that, because they can create a lot of problems.
“If they come to me in Arizona and ask me for my papers. I might say go [bleep] yourself. Then we figure it out later. I think people should pull you over because you’re speeding or you’re a suspect of drugs or drinking and driving. They cannot stop you because you have black hair, or you look different. I don’t think that’s right.”
Except apparently in Arizona.
“If that happens in Arizona, we [Latinos] are smart: We’re going to move to San Diego. If it happens in California, we’re going to go to Colorado. I don’t care what they do, we’re staying,” Guillen said. “It’s easy going from Arizona to Nevada; you just drive. You know what’s tough? Coming from Guatemala to the U.S. That’s hard.”